No device to detect breast cancer in public health facilities

Indore: Public health facilities in Indore are running without a mammography machines which are used for diagnosis of breast cancer.

The machine is not even available in the state's biggest public tertiary care centre/hospital of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College for decades. The medical college authorities have recently sent a proposal to the medical education department for the purchase of a digital mammography machine for patient care.

Dean Dr Sanjay Dixit told TOI, “A proposal of over Rs 2 crore for purchasing a mammography machine for installation at medical college hospital is sent to the department.”

Mammography machine is a low-dose X-ray device used for early detection of breast tumour/cancer among females. Owing to absence of diagnostic facilities in public hospitals including central India’s biggest public cancer facility in the district, the cases are detected very late causing trouble to patients.

Breast cancer constitutes for 31 per cent, followed by 11.8 per cent cervix uteri, 7.5 per cent ovary, 5.6 per cent gallbladder and 5.1 per cent of mouth of all such cancer cases among females, showed an ICMR cancer factsheet prepared along with National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR).

In Madhya Pradesh, females have a crude rate of 90 new cases per lakh population, while male have only 88, showed the factsheet. The crude incidence rate is the number of new cancer cases per 100,000 population at risk in a specific site in a year.

Government Cancer Hospital superintendent Dr Ramesh Arya said, “Most of the breast cancer cases are coming very late to hospital. There is a need for awareness and early diagnosis at grass root level (primary health centre). The tumour spreads and cases become complicated due to the delay.”